American Taliban

American Taliban

         Well, kids, it's Thursday again, which means that somewhere, in America, as they do  every other day,  Far  Rightist Evangelical  sycophants  such as Santorum, Carson, Cruz and Rubio will be attacking  current Presidential policy and all things liberal per their usual political bent, all while asserting that God wants them to become president so they can set the world aright. 

       One pundit, however has been even more direct , although equally misguided.  Kathryn Lopez recently reached  new heights of misdirection and outright falsehood in a column entitled "Warren, God and the freedom to choose." She quoted  Rick Warren, another of those mega church pastors whose cult of personality influences his congregation to react to stimuli the way shoals of fish and flocks of birds all seem to  turn at the same time. Warren's Saddleback Evangelical Church, by the way, rakes in  a cool  $2.4 million annually for spouting the following drivel while paying no (as in zero) taxes .

          "Can we really talk about the state of our union without talking about the state of our religious freedom?" Warren says. He further states that  religious freedom is "The freedom to practice my faith and values and the freedom to convert."  Ms Lopez is the far Right's ideal mouthpiece, being a Filipina of brown hue and a devout ultra conservative Catholic, which might lead the ignorant observer to think that perhaps the Republican party represents America's minorities. She then writes, "He cautions against the misreading of tolerance - mistakenly taking all ideas to be of equal value and dismissing the existence of truth." 

          Of course, the "truth" she alludes to is purely her personal credo, not some great cosmological absolute, as she would have one believe. It is her perception and belief (note the word belief) about the nature of God, the universe, morality, etc.  Ms. Lopez certainly must be  aware that more people in the world have other "truths" than those who believe as she does. In dismissing other tenets, credos and beliefs  as being of lesser value, she is not only supremely arrogant, but also  diametrically opposed to Jefferson, Madison, Washington, and others who had the foresight to endorse the intent and meaning of the First Amendment.

          Then President, George   Washington in his letter of 1790 to the Hebrew  Congregation in Newport  eloquently wrote, "The Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support."  Ms Lopez, a Catholic, has clearly decided that her "truth" is exclusive. As to Mr. Warren's "freedom to convert" line, I would opine  that those of us who disagree with his personal "truth" should also be allowed to be free from his conversion  efforts.

         

          Claims from the far right that religious freedom in America is abridged or under attack by current law are specious. In fact,  current legislative efforts protect freedom from the religiously driven  prejudicial acts of the true believers among us. This is manifested, when, for example, a pharmacist refuses to fill a prescription for the "morning after" pill, citing personal beliefs as the reason.  His religious freedom is the freedom to oppose abortion in his personal realm -  family, church, whatever - period. It is equally evident when a Kim Davis refuses to issue a marriage license. The (il)logic involved is ludicrous. When , in the name of subjective "truth," that belief infringes on another's life, that isn't religious freedom;  it's religious oppression. The only difference between the pharmacist, Kim Davis and a Talibani believer who murders schoolgirls is in degree, not principal.

          It's really as simple as that. Those who would impose their beliefs on others, feel justified in doing so because theirs is the "real and only" truth. All others are lesser persons until converted. I reiterate, in far too many instances the only difference between aggressive evangelicals and the Taliban is headwear and the language they speak.